Two Freshmen Get Head Start for the Aztecs : College football: Scott, Faulk contribute in first game for SDSU.

Their coach calls them pups. Their teammates treat them like any other freshmen. San Diego State fans had to double-check their programs to see whom the unfamiliar numbers belonged to Sunday night.

Even Darnay Scott and Marshall Faulk themselves didn’t plan on this . During fall camp, they lived in adjoining dormitory rooms, making one of the biggest transitions in their lives together and talking of days to come.

“We’d say, ‘Man, I want to play,’ ” Faulk said. “ ‘I don’t want to redshirt.’ We just felt like we were ready.”

They played well in practices. They raised eyebrows in two scrimmages. Two freshmen having the time of their lives.

Next thing they knew, on the Tuesday after their first game, they were welcoming reporters as if they were Patrick Rowe or something.

What a way to begin a couple of careers.

Scott, a wide receiver, caught a 19-yard touchdown pass on his first college play, in the third quarter of SDSU’s 49-13 romp over Long Beach Sunday. A few minutes later, he returned a kickoff 37 yards. And don’t forget about that 52-yard pass reception. He finished with a team-high 88 yards receiving on four catches and 56 yards on two kickoff returns.

Faulk, a tailback, gained 39 yards on 11 carries. He scored a touchdown on a one-yard run. He started the game after first-team tailback T.C. Wright returned a punt 78 yards and needed a breather.

In one night, the two became the first true freshmen to score touchdowns for SDSU since Tommy Booker crossed the goal line on Sept. 12, 1987.

In one month, the two persuaded Luginbill that redshirting isn’t necessarily right for all freshmen.

“It is against my philosophy, but every once in a while one or two come along,” Luginbill said. “I can’t remember a freshman more mature or more talented on the offensive side of the football than these two.

“Their maturity is a little bit above average for a freshman, and their ability is quite a bit above average.”

San Diegans who follow football already knew about Scott, 6-feet-3 and 185 pounds, who came to SDSU from from Kearny High School. He wanted to stay home in San Diego to be close to his aunt and uncle, Karen and Alan Hood, with whom he has lived since moving to San Diego from St. Louis in 1988.

Faulk, 5-10 and 180, one of three players SDSU recruited in Louisiana last winter, arrived from Carver High in New Orleans. He visited Miami, Louisiana State, Texas A&M; and Nebraska before choosing SDSU.

Scott has had the more difficult time adjusting. He continually dropped passes in the beginning of camp. He suffered a cracked ring finger on his right hand. Then he split the skin between two fingers on his left hand that required seven stitches to close. The effects of the cut and cracked finger are still visible on each hand.

There were at least two problems. First, the passes were being thrown a little harder than they were in high school. And, Scott’s summer wasn’t exactly a how-to manual when it comes to preparing for college football.

“I didn’t catch balls over the summer,” Scott said. “I kicked back.”

Alan Hood said Scott was burned out after playing football, basketball and running track last year at Kearny. But Hood, who was a quarterback at Iowa State, also said he tried to convince Scott to get to work.

“It was ridiculous,” Hood said. “We were about getting ready to fight. I called up Darryl Strawberry’s uncle (a friend of the family’s) and said, ‘Talk to this kid.’ ”

Hood said Scott finally started “working out” four days before practice started in August.

“I called home on a lunch break and said, ‘Get up out of bed and do something,’ ” Hood said.

“I just jogged,” came the voice from the other end.

“Where and how far?”

“To the Mira Mesa Rec Center.”

Hood couldn’t believe it.

“I said, ‘Darnay, that’s not even a mile,’ ” Hood recalled. “I almost gave up on him. I didn’t think he would go to college and do anything.”

Scott paid for an easy summer when he kept dropping passes during the first several days of practice.

“I was like, uh-oh,” Scott said. “I would go home and call my uncle every day.”

But instead of telling Scott “I told you so,” Hood told him to concentrate. Soon, things started coming around for Scott. How many players catch a touchdown pass on their first collegiate play?

Luginbill said that the only person he has coached with whom he would compare Scott is Michael Haynes, a former Arizona State defensive back who later played for New England and the Raiders in the NFL.

“Haynes was smooth, with great speed, but not as fast as Darnay,” Luginbill said. “He had the height and he had the maturity.”

Faulk made the transition a little easier than Scott--his biggest problem was getting to San Diego last winter for his recruiting visit.

Curtis Johnson, SDSU receivers’ coach, was set to fly with Faulk from New Orleans to San Diego, but inclement weather delayed the flight for a couple of hours. Then, their connection in Houston was fogged in and they were a few more hours late in leaving.

“Coach Johnson and I got tight,” Faulk said of their day together. “I found out he was more than a coach. He was real cool. He just seemed to be on your level. We could talk about anything.”

SDSU knew Faulk was talented, but so far he has surprised Aztec coaches.

“We just didn’t know how good he was,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have an opportunity to see him on film. His coach told me when we were recruiting him that Texas A&M; had all the film.”

Like Johnson’s other recruiting battles in Louisiana, he had to work to get Faulk. Two days before signing day, Faulk told Johnson he was seriously considering Nebraska. After Faulk decided on SDSU, LSU visited Carver High on signing day and attempted to lure him away from the Aztecs before he signed.

Once he finally got to SDSU, everything finally started to fall into place.

That Faulk figured prominently in the Aztecs’ opener came as no surprise to Wayne Reese, Faulk’s coach at Carver. Reese revamped his offense from a double-tight end, two-back set to a single-back, motion formation specifically to suit Faulk.

“I don’t think there was a high school back in the country better than he was,” Reese said. “I’m talking a complete back--running, moves, catching the football, knowing what to do.

“He’d have started anywhere he went, including Nebraska.”

Faulk’s only mistakes in the Long Beach game came when he fumbled on two carries. He recovered one and lost the other.

As for the fumble Faulk recovered, Luginbill said, “I’ve never seen anybody go after a fumble like that.”

Faulk will continue to get some turns at tailback as the season progresses, and Scott will be SDSU’s kickoff return man and might return some punts. Scott also will get some time at receiver as Rowe’s backup.

So much for the redshirt idea.

Instead, Scott and Faulk will continue to ride their opening-night magic. They are roommates now, and they had quite a conversation when they got home late Sunday after the Long Beach game.

“We were sore, and it was like, ‘Man, that was quite a game,’ ” Faulk said. “We were talking about the plays we made and the mistakes we made. We were laughing about it and stuff.

“It was like, ‘This might be kind of fun.’ ”